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XAVIER HOLDS MEMORIAL MASS FOR SKIP PROSSER

 
Published Aug. 5, 2007|Updated Aug. 5, 2007

Skip Prosser will always be "Coach" to Pat Kelsey.

"I believe that one of the greatest honors a player can bestow on a coach is to call him 'Coach' - forever," Kelsey said Saturday while delivering the eulogy during a memorial Mass for Prosser at Xavier University.

The 56-year-old Prosser, who coached at Xavier before taking the job at Wake Forest in 2001, died of an apparent heart attack July 26 in his Wake Forest office. Former players and other coaches attended his funeral Tuesday in North Carolina.

Prosser was remembered again Saturday in a banquet room overlooking the basketball arena in the Cintas Center, which his successful Musketeer teams helped get built.

The Mass was open to the public and drew almost 900 people, including family members, former players, coaches and team managers.

Kelsey played under Prosser at Xavier from 1995 to 1998 and coached under him at Xavier and Wake Forest.

"Everything you've heard and read about this extraordinary man is true - and then some," Kelsey said during his 12-minute eulogy.

Football

EAST CAROLINA: Senior defensive lineman Wendell Chavis was suspended indefinitely for violating team rules. Also, sophomore backup offensive lineman Cory Dowless has left the team to attend to personal issues. It is unclear if or when he will return.

GEORGIA: Redshirt sophomore center Ian Smith quit the team because of health concerns.

UNC: Receiver Dwight Jones and linebacker Albert Craddock, both freshman, failed to meet the NCAA's academic requirements and will not play this season.